Why was King Benjamin given the small plates?

Thomas R. Valletta

“The fact that King Benjamin ruled over the Nephites seems to suggest that the kingship line had moved away from Nephi’s descendants. However, this is not the case. Mormon assures his readers that during the kingship reign of Nephite history ‘the kingdom had been conferred upon none but those who were descendants of Nephi’ (Mosiah 25:13). What is apparent in the names of King Mosiah and King Benjamin is that the honorific title of Nephi had been discarded. However, the lineage of Nephite kings remained. When Amaleki, who did not have children, gave the small plates to King Benjamin, Benjamin already had in his possession the large plates of Nephi that contained the secular history of the Nephites” (Black, 400 Questions and Answers, 129).

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